Welcome

We have wound down our activities as of July 2024, and Books Beyond Bars UK is no longer running. This website now contains some archival material about the project, and links to other projects with similar aims. We encourage you to support other organisations working with and supporting incarcerated people. 

Books Beyond Bars UK ran as a collective of volunteers from 2019 to 2024, sending books and other educational materials, free of charge, to incarcerated LGBTQIA+ people across the United Kingdom. During that time we sent over 10,000 books to hundreds of readers inside. Our decision to launch this project in the UK was inspired by the US-based LGBT Books to Prisoners.

Why does this kind of work matter?

In the work we did with Books Beyond Bars UK, we sought to acknowledge, and work against, the oppressive functions of the prison system. Our project aimed to meet requests as directly as possible in order to affirm the dignity of all individuals by providing access to knowledge of individuals’ choosing, so that they can learn and grow as they wish.

Access to reading materials in prison can be limited, and LGBTQIA+ people can have a particularly hard time finding resources that meet their needs and wants. LGBTQIA+ people in prison face specific or additional hardships that can include – but are not limited to – severe isolation and violence. We wanted (and still want) people to know that there is a supportive community on the outside that cares about their wellbeing.

Books Beyond Bars UK, Registered company number: 11762572